It's Always Been You
by RomanceCraze25
Summary: Maddie comes back to Oakdale after graduating Wesleyan University. She's ready to start the life of her own with her new job. But, will someone else also come into her view and try to repeat history? Rated M for sexual content, language, and whatever else I think of.
1. Chapter 1

I never thought that I would ever step foot in Oakdale, again. The place that holds all my good memories and my demons. I told myself that once I left, I would never come back. What changed? Well, let's see. I graduated Wesleyn University with my bachelors in teen addictions counselor. Oakdale was the first town to offer me a position upon graduation. There was a spot open in the Oakdale Medical Center because the previous lady had retired. They wanted someone new and fresh.

My brother, Henry still lives in Oakdale and that's another motivation for me to move back. Henry and Vienna have a place that they welcomed me to stay at until I can get on my own feet. The two are married now and I couldn't be happier. I absolutely love Vienna and she totally makes my brother happy. If my brother is happy, I'm happy.

The only reason I even dreaded coming back was because of... _him_. The only person I ever loved and I knew I couldn't have. He was with Alison the last time I saw him. I didn't want to see him all cheery and happy with her. Deep down, I wanted to be that person who made him smile and give him those butterflies. I, Madeline Coleman, was the original one who had made him happy. The only reason we ever broke up was because he had went to prison. And by the time he got out, I was already away at college. I just wish things could've been different...

I took a deep breath before knocking on Henry's front door. I knew my life was going to start and I hope that it's all amazing things.

Henry answered the door and his instant huge smile came across his face. "Baby sister!" He practically yelled and forced a hug out of me. I smiled huge and hugged him back real tight.

"God, you look so grown up. I remember when you just a little fetus starting high school." He said to me. I gave him the weirdest look and laughed at him "Fetus, Henry?" I questioned him. "I see your vocabulary never changed." I teased him.

"Well Madeline, some things gotta stay the same." Henry said with a chuckle. I walked into the house and he closed the door behind me. He has a pretty decent size place. A huge ass living room with a fireplace and a comfy couch with a huge HDTV hanging on the wall. Then, the kitchen wasn't huge and it wasn't small either. It was perfect size. It had a ton of counter space and lots of cabinets. There were two bathrooms. One was downstairs and it was a half bath. The other one was upstairs with three bedrooms.

"This place looks really nice, you definitely deserve it after all those years in the hotel." I said to him as I went to sit down on the couch. Henry sat down next to me and nodded his head. "Vienna and I have worked hard to get where we are." Before he could say anything else, Vienna came down the stairs so excited. "Oh my goodness, Madeline!" She said loudly. I turned my head around and my eyes widened at what I saw. It looked like Vienna was about six months pregant. I turned my gaze back at Henry and gave him a dirty look. "Is there something you need to tell me?" I questioned him immediately.

Henry sighed and looked at me with a smile. "You are going to be an auntie to a nephew." The biggest smile came across my face and I hugged him tight. "Oh my gosh, congrats." I said to the both of them. After I finished hugging Henry, I went over to Vienna and gave her a big hug and I put my hand on her belly. A slight kick was felt against my hand and I couldn't help but smile. "That's beautiful. I can't wait until he is in the world. Do you guys have a name yet?" She asked the couple. Vienna shook her head. "Henry and I can't agree on a name." She said with a sigh. I raised my eye brows at Henry. "Well, you guys will have plenty of time." I assured them.

"So, tell me about Wesleyan. Did you date any cute guys?" Henry asked wanting to change the subject at hand. Obviously talking about baby names was a sensitive topic for some strange reason. I sighed and shook my head at Henry. My love life wasn't really there in Wesleyan. All I wanted to do was focus on school and get my degree. Plus I wasn't over Casey and I'm starting to think I'll never be over him. My heart will always belong to him. "I dated a couple guys, but it wasn't anything serious..." I trailed off.

"Nothing like Casey?" Henry teased at me, which only brought a mean glare at him. "Kidding... Sis." He assured me. "Look me and Vienna gotta go run a couple errands. You make yourself at home and we will be back later." I nodded and watched the happy couple leave the house.

I walked over to the couch and laid down on it and kicked off my flip flops to the floor. I pulled out my rose gold iPhone 6s Plus and checked my notifications on Facebook. As expected, there was nothing new. I decided to type a new status "Back in Oakdale at last... I can't wait to see everyone. Especially the new newlyweds Noah and Luke Mayor." Luke and Noah had just gotten married and it was too bad I had to miss it. They have been in my life for so long and it sucks that I had to miss the best day of my favorite couple.

After posting the status, I locked my phone and placed it on the coffee table. Sudden tiredness came across my face and I yawned slightly. Slowly, my eyes closed bringing into my special place.

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoy this! It's going to be a Maddie and Casey story but I wanted chapter one to be Maddie settling in. The next chapter may contain Casey ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I am writing in this new format. I couldn't stand writing in first person because I'm used to writing in third person. I should've done it since the beginning but I was gonna try to do it. That's sort of why it took me so long to write chapter two. I promise you the next chapters will come out faster now that I changed it. Plus I have inspiration back for this story! Enjoy :)**

A loud boom of thunder shook Maddie out of the deep sleep she was in. Her heart was beating crazy fast and her breathing was heavy. She was unsure of what exactly she was dreaming, but she felt deep down that it had something to do with Casey. It has been eight years since they last spoke to one another. Maddie was sure that Casey had forgotten about her and their love. Probably finally married Alison in Carbondale and bought a house with their beautiful children. It was the life she always imagined she would have with him.

The only thing she could think about in this moment was the big storm in 2006 when the power got knocked out. A smile crept on her lips as she got lost in the memory. She missed the Casey that would play board games in the middle of the night because of her nightmares. Or the Casey that would sit there and sincerely listen to her explain her past. The only guy that cared enough to get to know her. She would give anything to have that love back. The love that was so sweet and simple regardless of what they went through. Maddie inhaled a deep breath to stop thinking and dwelling on the past. She didn't want to start crying about him. The darkness outside indicated that it was still too early to be awake. She slowly laid back into bed and drifted back to sleep.

A loud noise blared from Maddie's phone which caused the brunette to groan. She absolutely hated alarms, but she wanted a good sleep schedule for her new job. She is going to start working in the mornings very soon. Maddie grabbed her iPhone and dismissed the annoying noise. Following that, Maddie rose out of bed and slid out of her black silk nightie. Her fresh clothes for the day were folded next to her on the bed. She grabbed her zebra tank top along with a jean skirt. Attending college gave her a new fashion sense; a less nerdy one. Maddie went over to her vanity and sat in front of it. As she went through her makeup bag, she took out the makeup she needed for the day. To this day, Maddie still doesn't wear a whole lot of makeup. Some foundation to cover blemishes, mascara to enhance her eyelashes, a thin layer of eye liner on the water line, and lip gloss to give her a pop to her look. She grabbed her hairbrush and fixed her messy hair. It didn't take much to get the look she wanted because she was going for a shaggy look. She was too lazy to straighten her hair. Plus she was only going to see Luke. Not like she had to impress him or anything.

Maddie picked up her phone and texted Luke.

"Hey. Wanna go out for breakfast? My treat. :)"

She pressed send and walked downstairs. Henry and Vienna were probably still sleeping. Henry is so not a morning person. Five minutes later, Maddie received a text back from Luke.

"Yeah, sounds good. Meet me at Al's?"

Maddie sent her confirmation text and left the house.

The sun was hot and it was probably the most gorgeous morning. Since Oakdale is so small, Maddie walked to Al's diner. She opened the door and walked inside. Her eyes began scanning the room for the familiar blonde. When she found him, a giant smile came across her face and ran over to him to hug him. "Luke!" She yelled with excitement while giving him a huge bear hug. Luke got up when he heard his name and hugged Maddie back just as tight.

"You have no idea how much I missed you. I needed my best friend at my wedding." He said to her as he looked into her eyes.

Maddie took a deep breath and nodded in response.

"I know. If Connecticut wasn't so far or if I didn't have finals, I definitely would have." She said to him. They both sat down in the booth and picked up the menus and began scanning the selections. Luke was sitting directly across from her.

"Speaking about weddings, how are you and Noah doing?" Maddie asked as she scanned the omelette part of the menu.

A smile came across Luke's face as soon as Maddie said Noah's name. Just mentioning Noah makes him smile like a kid. "We are doing great. I feel like we are back in the honeymoon stage because of being fresh newlyweds." He explained with the smile plastered on his face.

Maddie smiled, "Awe. You two are legit relationship goals." Luke brushed off her compliment. "We aren't that perfect." He replied with a quick laugh.

Maddie laid her menu down on the table and raised her eyebrow at him. Luke and Noah were the definition of a perfect relationship to her. "I'm serious. Despite all the drama you both have been through... Like Noah's dad injuring you. The whole Ameera marriage. Your relationship with Reid. You guys still ended up getting married. Not many people can say they have that." She explained to him and picked up her menu again to avoid eye contact over the last thing she said.

Luke raised his eyebrow at her. "You mean to say you didn't find a hot university nerd to fall in love with?" He asked her in disbelief.

Maddie took a deep breath. It wasn't like she didn't date in college, because she did. However, nothing was ever completely serious. "I dated some guys... but they were mostly flings." She admitted to him with sadness in her voice.

A confused look came over Luke's face as she was explaining to him. Maddie started mentally preparing herself for a million questions. "Why not fall in love? Don't you want to get married one day and have kids?" Luke asked in a serious, but curious tone.

"I do. But, no guy has shown me yet that they are worth it." Maddie started to explain to him. "After my relationship with Casey and everything he put me through, it's hard for me to trust anyone. I'm not even if I'll ever be over Casey. It's been eight years since I last spoke with him and he's still always on my mind." Tears were forming in Maddie's eyes as she vented to her best friend.

Luke took her hands into his and rubbed them in reassurance. "Maybe it's a sign that things aren't completely over?" He suggested in hopefulness. Maddie made a strange face at him. "Yeah right. We broke up and got back together four times. It's gone." She told him in a stern voice. A sigh left her lips. She wished that Luke was right. She would give anything to have Casey back.

The waitress came over to their table to take their orders. Luke ordered two scrambled eggs, three slices of bacon, wheat toast, and a side of orange juice. Maddie ordered two big chocolate chip pancakes with three slices of bacon and chocolate milk.

The waitress walked over to the counter to put the order through and came back with their drinks. Before they knew it, their food finally came. As they ate their meal, they chatted more about Maddie's university life and all about Luke and Noah's wedding.

After they were done, Maddie grabbed her purse and pulled her debit card out of her wallet to pay the waitress. She grabbed Maddie's card and slid it through the system and came back with it. Luke looked at Maddie and smiled. "Thanks so much for breakfast. It was perfect." He said to her.

Maddie smiled in return. "It's the least I could do for not being at your wedding." As she said that, they both rose to their feet to give each other a hug. They said their goodbyes and Maddie left towards the door.

Without paying attention to what she was doing, Maddie opened the door and crashed into someone as she went to walk out the door. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorr..." She stopped in mid sentence once she realized who it was. "Casey?" Maddie asked in a shocking voice.

Casey smirked at the brunette. "I'm back." He said in a happy tone.


End file.
